The hataras nedarim of Erev Rosh Hashanah starts with "Listen now my masters, expert judges" ("שמעו נא רבותי, דיינים מומחים"). In practice, these judges are usually ordinary people. So why do we make ...

In parshas Vayechi 47 29 Yaakov Avinu tells Yosef to place his hand by his thigh. We find this expression used by Avraham Avinu in Chayei Sarah 24 2 with an explenation by Rashi that an object used ...

A reason that I propose for why divorced women continue to cover their hair and divorced men continue to wear a tallis (a phenomenon whose existence I vouch for) is that taking on a mitzvah (with the ...

In the Mishna, (Menachot 12:3) it says that if one makes a neder (vow) to offer a Korban Mincha with barley, he offers with wheat. Kehati explains, if he didn't know that Menachot are only wheat, but ...

If someone verbalizes to himself something like "I promise not to drink Coke for a year" and his intention is to create a prohibition for himself, what does the halacha have to say about this case?
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There's an argument whether annulling an oath needs an excuse. Even if there needs to be an excuse, the excuse could be something weak like "I didn't know I shouldn't take oaths".
What's the point of ...

If someone makes a partial statement (while not intending to make a Shevua) is that considered a Shevua? For example, we learn in the Torah about swearing (even in Hashem's Name) (which clearly should ...

An 11 year old girl made a neder that if she finds a certain object that she had lost then she'll give to tzedeka 20 agarot (which is today around 5 cents) every week (for the rest of her life.)
Does ...

If someone wants to make a prohibition on himself from eating apples and has some apples in front of him and uses a language of "konem" in his neder and says "these apples" then they become forbidden ...

I am trying to understand the opinion of Rabbi Meir in the Mishna, Nedarim 9:3-4. If you are already familiar with Masekhet Nedarim, you can skip to the fourth paragraph of my question. If not, the ...

According to Minchas Yaakov 112:2 and Darchei Teshuva 112:94, one who is always careful with Pas Yisrael and now wants to start eating Pas Paltar would have to be Matir Neder. Suppose a girl who was ...

Inspired by this question
In Bereshis 47:29 Yaakov asks Yosef to "put his hand under his thigh" (a euphemism) and swear not to bury him in Egypt. Here, unlike by Avraham, there is no indication that ...

Orach Chayim 153 (15) says that a person cannot forbid with a vow (assur) his part of the synagogue or the books in it. If he did make such a vow, it is ineffective. MB [87] explains that this is a ...

Avraham made Eliezer promise that he would only find a wife for Yitzchak from his family.
It seems to follow then, that as soon as Eliezer would arrive in Aram Naharaim he'd go straight to Avraham's ...

Suppose a Gabbai Tzedakah passes our good friend Reuven while making his collection rounds. Reuven reaches into his pocket for his wallet and removes the money he wants to donate. By the time Reuven ...

Authorities like the Or Zaru'a have been so stringent as to say that even mental pledges are binding when it comes to gifts to the poor. Many less extreme opinions hold that verbal pledges of the same ...

A woman who desperately wanted to get married traveled to Meron, the burial place of Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai, and vowed that if she found her match, she would name her first son Shimon in his merit. ...

In the beginning of Parshas Matos, the Torah first describes the process of a father annulling the oaths of his daughter (30:4-6), and then afterwards the the law of a husband doing so for his wife's ...

Is it always forbidden to swear to G-d, or does it depend on truth?
I read somewhere that "in vain" means for something false or obvious.
If someone doesn't believe me about something very important ...

Inspired by this answer (and more generally its question):
What is the difference between a Neder (vow) and a Shevua (oath)?
It seems to me that it is generally described as "issur cheftza" (neder) ...

Recently a friend of mine asked me the following question. He pledged $500- to a Yeshiva, yet before he paid the pledge the Yeshiva closed. Does he still have to pay his pledge to another Tzedaka or ...

Sometimes I wonder if when people are learning or quoting things they say things in the name of people, would that count as them making a Neder? For example the teacher says "Yaakov said: I will give ...

Judges chapter 11 tells of the vow that Yiftach makes to God -- if he is successful in battle he will offer up to God the first thing that comes out of the door of his house to greet him. As we know, ...

After the Mabul (deluge/flood), Hashem promised that he would not destroy the world. Yet we know from Tisha Bav and Yom Kippur's "Asarah Harugay Malchus" (“The Ten Martyrs”) poem that when they were ...